New year, new start for your business ventures! If you’re looking to get started online with little to no budget, we can help. We’ve evaluated the top sites for getting a free website in 2020:
1 | Wix.com
Wix is a common name among free website builders, and they’ve been around awhile. Their builder is fairly intuitive, and the selection of tools is pretty varied as far as free options go. Some things to keep in mind: their free sites display ads. The only way to get an ad-free Wix site is to upgrade to a monthly paid plan.
Wix’s free domain names look like: “YourUsername”.wixsite.com/”YourWebsite”
Lots of tools, but very technical.
Varies, depends on skill of the user.
Credible and established company.
Good for technically-minded people who’ll get the most out of the builder.
No way to disable ads on free sites.
Very technical, requires skill with digital interfaces and design to use well.
Domain names are bulky and not very professional.
Our overall rating: ★★
2 | Weebly.com
Weebly is on par with Wix and WordPress as a site builder. It was established around the same time as Wix and is gaining popularity as another top free builders out there. Their interface has a bit of a learning curve, but it’s highly functional, and Weebly includes helpful modules to help you learn how everything works.
Weebly’s free domain names look like: “YourWebsite”.weebly.com
Not as intuitive as Wix, but supplemented with learning tools and videos.
Varies by user. Some decent template options help out less experienced users.
Credible and established company like Wix.
Slightly improved domain name.
Displays an ad in the footer of free sites
Requires patience and willingness to learn how to use the tools
Our overall rating: ★★
3 | RedArrowMarketing.com
We usually don’t go in for blatant self-promotion, but we do offer a great option if you’re looking for a free website made by professionals! Normally we charge between $1000-$5000 for professional web design services, but we thrive on building relationships and growing with our clients over time. That’s why we completely waive our website design fees when you partner with us on any flat rate marketing package. These are affordable monthly bundles that include online advertising services on Google, site optimization for higher Google rankings, site hosting and maintenance, and yep–a free, professional website.
This is seriously worth considering if you’re planning on running online ads and using your website as a primary means of gaining sales. You set your budget, and we handle the rest so you can spend your time on other aspects of your business.
Our free domain names look like: “YourWebsite”.com
Set your budget and pay one flat monthly rate. We handle the rest and provide detailed reports on your site analytics each month.
Professionally designed and custom tailored to your business. Our designers build a high quality website to suit your business and support your brand. Every site is optimized for mobile devices and making conversions.
Totally custom website, designed to build your brand for success and sales. Looks clean & professional.
Responsive design included on all sites, so they function ideally on phones and tablets.
Year-round site maintenance and plugin updates managed by real people to ensure your site is always up to date
Marketing bundles include expertly managed Google Ads and Google Maps ads to help you capture targeted traffic and sales
Higher level bundles include true SEO services to help your site rank higher on Google so more people find your business
All-in-one service with a flat monthly rate, all fees included.
Fits virtually any budget
Requires a basic budget to get started.
Our overall rating: ★★★★★
4 | Google.com/business
If you’re looking for the ultimate zero cost, zero effort option, Google My Business is a free account that you should have regardless of whether you use their web building tools or not. Creating a business profile helps get your business listed in map results, share contact info for customers trying to reach you, and a host of other services like sharing photos of your products or location. Setting up and managing a My Business account is one of the first things we do for all new clients because it makes that much of a difference!
Google now offers a free web building tool that allows you to create basic webpages and populate them with info from your business profile, which can be handy if you have zero budget and still need to get the word out.
Google’s free domain names look like: “YourWebsite”.business.site
No builders to learn, just follow the step-by-step prompts.
Super basic. Hard to mess up, but hard to stand out.
Super easy to use. Guides you step-by-step with no real tools to learn.
Good for people with zero budget and zero experience using web builders
Auto-populates info from your business account and auto-updates it when you make changes on your business profile.
Sites are very generic. Adding your own images and logos can help customize, but it’s hard to stand out from competitors, especially when they have professionally-designed sites.
Our overall rating: ★★★
Good luck getting started!
Whichever route you choose, just getting online will be a huge boon to your business. If you want to learn more about our marketing packages and what we can do to get your started, contact us today for info!
If you want more advice on setting your website up for success, check out these related articles that may inform your decision-making process:
